First sales excite many

Out-of-staters abound among marijuana buyers

The Greener Side empoyee Josh Borjon, second from left, waits on a customer on Wednesday morning, Jan, 1, 2014 in Pueblo, Colo. during the first day of recreational marijuana sales in the state. The Greener Side was one of two businesses in Pueblo County open on the first day. (Chris McLean, The Pueblo Chieftain)

By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press

Published: January 1, 2014;Last modified: February 14, 2014 03:53PM

DENVER — The nation’s first recreational pot industry opened in Colorado on Wednesday, kicking off a marijuana experiment that will be watched closely around the world. Already, it is attracting people from across the country.

Here’s a look at some of the sights in Denver, the Mile High City, on the historic day:

From the jailhouse to the pothouse

Less than a year ago, James Aaron Ramsey was serving a brief jail sentence for pot possession. On Wednesday, the 28-year-old musician, having driven from Missouri, was among the first to legally buy weed.

He brought a guitar and strummed folk tunes for about 20 people waiting outside one dispensary for sales to begin, as light snow fell at times.

“I’m going to frame the receipt when I go home,” Ramsey said with a smile. “To remind myself of what might be possible. Legal everywhere.”

Others who were waiting in line shared their own pot incarceration stories over coffee and funnel cakes.

“They made me go to rehab for marijuana, but I’d get out and see all my underage friends getting drunk all the time,” said 24-year-old Brandon Harris, who drove 20 hours from Blanchester, Ohio.

“I had to do pee tests, probation visits, the whole thing, Trafficking conviction. Nineteen years old. For a plant, how stupid,” he said, shaking his head.

‘Your grandmother’s pot connection’

Tinted windows on a black limousine idling outside one Denver dispensary showed another side of the newly legal weed market — people eager to try legal marijuana, but not ready to be seen publicly buying it.

Addison Morris, owner of Rocky Mountain Mile High Tours, had 10 clients waiting in the limo who paid $295 for three hours of chauffeuring by a “marijuana concierge” who would help them choose strains and edible pot products.

“We’re your grandmother’s pot connection,” the 63-year-old said. “We’re not the hippie stoners who are going to stand in this cold and party.”

Morris said she’s booked through the end of February with out-of-state clients. Guests receive samples in designer bags before getting tours.

Morris said she’s selling discretion. Guests are asked to leave cameras at home. They avoided the crowd at the dispensary, where younger shoppers noshed on funnel cakes and doughnuts from a food truck.

Asked if her guests wanted any of the carnival-style treats, Morris recoiled.

“Oh God no,” she said. “We’re going to Whole Foods for breakfast.”

Will there be enough?

Not all marijuana users in Colorado are toasting the dawn of retail sales.

Some medical marijuana patients groups say they’re worried about supply. That’s because the retail inventory for recreational use is coming entirely from the preexisting medical inventory. Many in the industry warned patients to stock up before the sales began.

It was too soon to tell whether prices were going up. Laura Kriho of the Cannabis Therapy Institute said she worries prices will spike and patients will be left paying more if they’re not able to grow their own.

“We hope that the focus on recreational doesn’t take the focus away from patients who really need this medicine,” she said.

For now, medical patients should have plenty of places to shop. Most of Colorado’s 500 or so medical marijuana shops haven’t applied to sell recreational pot, and many that have plan to serve both recreational and medical patients

At least they opened on time

Some Green Wednesday openings were grand, with coffee and live music awaiting early shoppers. Others were more slapdash. As in, not sure until the sun went down New Year’s Eve they’d have all their licensing and permitting to open.

The Clinic marked the opening of sales by turning on a Bob Marley CD and hurriedly putting out inventory.

Manager Ryan Cook didn’t get clearance to open until Tuesday evening.

“Never thought we’d be able to get here, but we did it,” a bleary-eyed Cook said, hustling around his shop after a long night waiting for new packaging bags compliant with new Colorado packaging regulations.